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BT  885  . L25  1916 

Lamb,  Alexander  Mackenzie. 
Twilight 


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TWILIGHT 


The  Sign  of  His  Coming 


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BY 


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ALEXANDER  MACKENZIE  LAMB 


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ARTI  et  VERITATI 


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BOSTON:  THE  GORHAM  PRESS 

TORONTO:  THE  COPP  CLARK  CO.,  LIMITED 


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Copyright, 

1916.  by  Alexander  Mackenzie  Lamb 

All  Rights  Reserved 

v 

v 


The  Gorham  Press,  Boston,  U.  S.  A. 
PRINTED  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES  OF  AMERICA 


PREFACE 


ON  that  fateful  night  before  the 
dawn  of  the  first  Good  Friday 
when  the  mob,  incited  by  the 
Church,  had  secured  the  arrest  of 
Jesus  and  brought  Him  before  the  highest 
religious  tribunal  in  Jerusalem,  Caiaphas  and 
his  comrades  were  perplexed  as  to  how  they 
could  effect  the  conviction  and  execution  of 
their  distinguished  Prisoner;  this  disturber  of 
religious  tradition  and  decorum. 

The  sacred  dignity  of  that  Presence  before 
the  high  priest  so  deeply  affected  the  hon¬ 
orable  Caiaphas  that  he  suddenly  propounded 
the  vital  question  of  modern  religious  in¬ 
quiry,  “Tell  us  whether  thou  be  the  Christ  the 
Son  of  God.”  “Jesus  saith  unto  him,  Thou 
has  said.  Nevertheless  I  say  unto  you,  Hence¬ 
forth  ye  shall  see  the  Son  of  Man  sitting  at 
the  right  hand  of  power  and  coming  on  the 


PREFACE 

clouds  of  Heaven.”  Matthew  26:63-66. 
These  two  bold  declarations  concerning  his 
Deity  and  his  personal  Return  called  forth 
the  denunciation  from  the  high  priest,  enforc¬ 
ed  by  the  maddened  crowd,  “He  hath  spoken 
blasphemy.  He  is  worthy  of  death.” 

Since  the  conviction  and  crucifixion  of 
Jesus  was  based  upon  this  two-fold  claim  of 
his  Deity  and  his  miraculous  Appearing  “at 
the  right  hand  of  power  and  coming  on  the 
clouds  of  Heaven,”  we  are  drawn  to  approach 
the  study  of  that  majestic  Return  with  rever¬ 
ence  and  with  solemn  awe.  It  is  a  holy 
mystery  and  we  remove  our  sandals  as  we 
turn  aside  to  inquire  into  the  significance  of 
these  promises  and  prophecies  concerning  this 
supreme  Day  of  days,  this  Event  of  events 
in  the  later  history  of  Man. 

Since  the  Biblical  scholars  of  Europe 
and  America  have  made  such  rich  contribu¬ 
tions  to  the  critical  and  reverent  study  of 
Prophecy  as  it  concerns  itself  with  the  return 


PREFACE 


of  our  Lord,  there  might  seem  to  be  small 
reason  for  a  presentation  of  this  subject  in  a 
form  that  is  little  more  than  an  Introduction 
to  a  Scriptural  investigation  of  the  doctrine. 
My  answer  is  simply  this.  In  the  frequent 
and  most  familiar  works  on  the  Premillennial 
view  of  the  return  of  Christ,  it  is  usually  as¬ 
sumed  that  we  must  expect  the  world  to  be¬ 
come  more  and  more  Satanic  till  the  cup  of 
iniquity  is  full — and  then  and  then  only  may 
we  look  for  our  Lord’s  coming.  This  view 
is  created  in  the  utter  neglect  of  a  great  pro¬ 
cession  of  promises  of  Church  triumph  for  the 
present  Age  that  extends  through  the  entire 
range  of  Scripture.  Thus  the  testimonies  of 
these  inspired  writers  seemed  to  clash  and  to 
clash  where  the  most  serene  harmony  is  de¬ 
sired.  In  reading  the  parable  of  the  wheat 
and  the  tares  I  was  surprised  at  the  evident 
meaning  of  the  words  “Let  them  both  (wheat 
and  tares)  grow  together  until  the  harvest.” 
Quickly  I  saw  that  to  emphasize  only  the  fact 


PREFACE 


that  “evil  men  and  seducers  shall  wax  worse 
and  worse,  deceiving  and  being  deceived”  is 
not  only  to  paralyze  effort  for  the  salvation 
of  men  but  is  also  to  deny  to  much  of  Scrip¬ 
ture  any  sane  interpretation.  When  it  came 
upon  me  that  not  only  is  wickedness  to  grow 
more  wicked  but  that  righteousness  is  to  be¬ 
come  more  powerful  in  the  final  conflict  be¬ 
tween  Satan  and  Christ,  I  felt  that  my  brief 
message  may  have  a  mission  in  bringing  con¬ 
solation  to  some  who  are  always  depressed 
by  what  seems  the  hopeless  reign  of  evil. 

We  have  been  saying  that  Christ  will  not 
come  till  “that  man  of  Sin  is  revealed”  but 
we  have  forgotten  to  emphasize  this  fact  also, 
that  he  is  delayed  in  his  coming  till  his  Church 
militant  completes  the  great  campaigns  against 
the  forces  of  sin  and  heathendom  that  he  has 
announced  as  his  program  for  his  redeemed 
people.  It  is  not  till  the  Church  has  ful¬ 
filled  her  glorious  mission  that  the  Bride¬ 
groom  will  come  for  his  Bride.  “Looking  for 


PREFACE 


and  hastening  the  Coming”  was  the  Apostle’s 
brief  orders  to  the  early  Christians.  It  is  a 
refreshing  thought  that  every  believer  may 
help  prepare  the  highway  for  the  King’s  re¬ 
turn;  yea,  that  he  cannot  come  till  his  people 
have  finished  their  great  tasks.  It  is  with 
the  desire  of  leading  devoted  Bible  students 
to  see  that  what  the  Apostle  calls  the  Hope 
of  the  Church  is  not  the  Despair  of  the 
Church,  that  I  venture  to  send  forth  this  brief 
word  concerning  the  triumphs  of  Christ  that 
must  parallel  the  wrecks  of  evil  before  the 
day  of  his  coming. 

Alex.  Mackenzie  Lamb. 

The  Manse } 

Cheswick,  Pittsburgh , 

July  17,  1916. 


CONTENTS 


Page 

Twilight:  The  Sign  of  His  Coming.  ...  13 

Harmony  Among  the  Prophets .  23 

The  Purposes  of  Prophecy . .  .  .  33 

Were  the  Apostles  Mistaken?.  .........  47 

Will  the  World  Grow  Worse  or  Better?  55 

What  Attitude  Shall  We  Take? .  63 

The  Witness  of  Science  and  History.  .  .  73 

Were  Jesus  and  Paul  Mistaken? .  81 


TWILIGHT:  THE  SIGN  OF  HIS 

COMING 


Twilight:  The  Sign  of  His 

Coming 

REVERENT  study  of  the  Sec- 


ond  Advent  of  our  Lord  must  con¬ 
tinue  to  occupy  for  all  Bible  stu¬ 
dents  a  conspicuous  place  in  their 


thought.  The  unhappy  fanaticism  associated 
with  the  preaching  of  this  doctrine  cannot 
sufficiently  cover  it  with  opprobrium  to  con¬ 
ceal  it  from  the  gaze  of  the  Church.  The 
history  of  all  truth  is  partially  declared  in  the 
parable  of  the  wheat  and  the  tares.  Wher¬ 
ever  truth  is  discovered,  falsehood  is  not  far 
distant;  and  often  falsehood  of  a  most  allur¬ 
ing  nature,  since  it  resembles  truth  as  closely 
as  tares  resemble  wheat.  Whenever  the 
Church  has  been  favored  with  a  great  religi¬ 
ous  awakening,  there  has  ever  followed  this 
harvest  of  wheat  and  tares.  When  Luther 
saw  in  vision  the  conquest  of  northern  Europe 
for  the  simple  Gospel  of  Apostolic  days,  the 


14  Twilight:  The  Sign  of  His  Coming 

entire  field  was  dotted  and  marred  by  the 
appearance  of  “strange  doctrines”  which 
threatened  to  uproot  the  entire  labor  of  the 
Reformers.  And  yet  when  we  read  the  story 
of  these  German  mystics  we  know  that  they 
possessed  in  an  abnormal  degree  the  very 
truth  of  religious  feeling  and  experience  which 
might  have  saved  the  great  Church  of  Luther 
from  its  future  formalism,  had  these  devoted 
men  and  women  been  willing  to  have  their 
exalted  religious  states  measured  by  the  sober 
interpretation  of  the  written  Word.  The 
great  contribution  which  they  might  have 
made  to  the  Reformation  was  worse  than 
wasted  since  the  glorious  truth  which  they  ex¬ 
perienced  was  associated  with  much  that  was 
dangerous  and  false. 

Thousands  are  silent  upon  the  rich  truths 
of  the  New  Testament  which  reveal  the  pos¬ 
sibilities  of  heart-cleansing  and  victory  over 
sin  because  this  heritage  of  the  Church  is  set 
forth  in  extravagant  and  impossible  colors  by 


Twilight:  The  Sign  of  His  Coming  15 

some  groups  of  distinctive  Holiness  teachers. 
If  we  abandon  all  the  glorious  news  of  the 
Gospel  because  these  messages  have  some¬ 
times  been  carried  by  strange  uncanny  mes¬ 
sengers  we  shall  soon  find  ourselves  with  a 
meagre  program  in  the  proclamation  of  the 
Gospel.  And  we  must  study  this  announce¬ 
ment  of  the  Scriptures  as  we  study  all  the 
great  subjects  of  Biblical  interest, — independ¬ 
ent  of  our  own  prejudices  or  the  extravagance 
and  follies  of  some  of  its  unfortunate  advo¬ 
cates. 

The  question  before  us  resolves  itself  sim¬ 
ply  into  two  theories  concerning  God’s  reveal¬ 
ed  purpose  as  to  the  future  of  the  race.  The 
two  theories  are  these.  ( 1 )  Will  the  race 
continue  under  this  present  order  indefinitely; 
or  (2)  will  the  race  reach  its  consummation 
in  a  crisis  which  will  end  this  age  and  in¬ 
troduce  “a  new  earth.”  Other  related  theories 
must  necessarily  surrender  to  the  authority  of 
one  of  these  views  of  the  future.  And  yet 


/ 


1 6  Twilight:  The  Sign  of  His  Coming 

how  fruitless  is  mere  speculation  on  so  great 
a  theme.  How  brief  is  the  journey  in  which 
unaided  Reason  can  carry  us !  The  surprises 
of  one  generation  are  entirely  contrary  to  the 
prophesies  of  the  men  who  preceded  it.  What 
the  future  reserves  for  us  in  any  department 
of  life  remains  beyond  the  prediction  of  the 
wisest  of  our  race.  All  Life  is  today  dis¬ 
turbed  by  the  murmurings  of  the  underworld, 
— racial,  economic,  social,  religious.  Restless¬ 
ness  and  expectancy  are  in  evidence,  but  even 
the  dreamers  of  dreams  do  not  know  what 
they  even  desire  to  have  fulfilled. 

It  may  not  be  easy  to  confess  that  real 
thinkers  are  thus  classified,  but  a  few  moments 
of  absolutely  sincere  thought  reveal  to  us  that 
all  thorough  far-reaching  programs  of  racial 
existence  and  destiny  compel  either  a  philoso¬ 
pher  or  a  theologian  to  declare  that  he  be¬ 
lieves  the  race  must  move  on  indefinitely  (and 
may  I  not  add  eternally)  to  larger  or  smaller 
achievements  in  morals  and  science,  or  that 


Twilight:  The  Sign  of  His  Coming  17 

the  present  Age  is  to  reach  a  crisis  in  which 
the  end  shall  be,  which  end  shall  prove  also  to 
be  the  beginning  of  the  day  of  the  Son  of  Man 
— a  wondrous  and  glorious  Day  when  the 
Kingdoms  of  this  world  shall  become  his  own. 

The  Scriptures  surely  teach  one  of  these 
two  doctrines  and  we  are  compelled  to  think 
that  if  language  is  intended  to  convey  thought 
we  will  not  find  it  difficult  to  decide  where  the 
Scriptures  would  place  us. 

In  moments  of  human  triumph  the  Church 
and  the  world  often  unite  in  declaring  that 
Religion  and  Science  will  march  shoulder  to 
shoulder  through  all  the  deserts  and  jungles 
of  human  Sin  and  Sorrow  till  every  wild  beast 
is  slain  and  every  arid  acre  is  made  to  bud 
and  blossom  as  the  rose.  Such  is  our  happy 
hope  in  the  moments  of  elation  and  apparent 
conquest  of  physical  and  moral  evils;  but 
while  we  are  treating  the  wound  in  one  spot 
the  plague  appears  in  a  new  place — unexpected 
and  malignant  1  With  this  frequent  humilia- 


1 8  Twilight:  The  Sign  of  His  Coming 

tion  upon  us  it  is  difficult  to  continue  to  be¬ 
lieve  that  our  greatest  longings  are  to  be 
realized  through  the  processes  which  we  now 
see  in  operation — glorious  though  the  fruit 
of  many  of  these  processes  evidently  is. 

Both  Holy  Scripture  and  Science  declare 
that  the  “things  which  are  seen  were  not  made 
of  things  which  do  appear”  but  that  great  con¬ 
vulsions  and  revolutions  were  necessary  in 
preparation  for  the  world  as  we  behold  it 
to-day;  and  it  is  therefore  not  an  improbable 
thing  which  confronts  us  in  the  Scriptures 
when  we  are  informed  that  even  greater  con¬ 
vulsions  and  revolutions  were  yet  to  follow 
before  God’s  highest  and  best  is  to  be  the  full 
heritage  of  His  people. 

However,  we  concede  that  there  is  nothing 
in  human  experience  to  determine  the  theory 
for  us,  whether  we  must  anticipate  an  in¬ 
definite  perpetuation  of  the  race  for  millions 
of  years  or  whether  God  will  “cut  short  the 
work  in  righteousness”  and  usher  in  a  new 


Twilight:  The  Sign  of  His  Coming  19 

and  more  glorious  dispensation,  where  war 
and  famine  and  pestilence,  suffering  and  sin, 
shall  no  longer  blight  every  garden  of  frag¬ 
rance  and  beauty. 

A  doctrine  is  not  proven  true  because  a 
large  number  of  detached  texts  can  be  ranged 
on  its  side.  The  texts  when  studied  in  the 
light  of  their  original  setting  may  be  vouch¬ 
ing  for  quite  another  doctrine  altogether.  A 
doctrine  is  to  be  viewed  in  the  light  of  the 
general  tenor  of  Scripture  as  well  as  in  view 
of  those  statements  which  seem  to  bear  direct¬ 
ly  upon  it.  And  quite  often  a  great  truth  is 
revealed  by  two  opposite  and  seemingly  hos¬ 
tile  sets  of  texts  and  only  when  studied  in  the 
light  of  these  two  divergent  views  of  the  same 
truth  are  the  full  facts  known.  I  regard  this 
as  vital  in  the  study  of  Scripture. 

Let  me  invite  you  to  a  consideration  of 
what  is  given  us  upon  the  future  as  it  relates 
to  Christ’s  Coming  wherein  we  are  requested 

to  anticipate  its  realization,  both  as  an  an- 

/ 


20  Twilight:  The  Sign  of  His  Coming 

nouncement  of  the  triumph  and  also  as  a  con¬ 
fession  of  the  partial  defeat  of  righteousness. 
We  cannot  consider  this  subject  in  even  the 
most  unpretentious  manner  without  facing 
many  of  the  largest  questions  presented  by 
Biblical  investigation.  Perhaps  it  is  for  this 
very  reason  that  so  many  falter  and  draw 
back  from  the  entire  problem,  for  the  very 
first  step  brings  us  into  the  exalted  realm  of 
the  supernatural.  Reason  fails  us  here  as  it 
fails  us  in  our  search  for  facts  concerning  all 
the  mysterious  and  yet  most  haunting  long¬ 
ings  concerning  immortality.  If  there  is  no 
direct  Revelation  given  us  we  certainly  are 
not  wise  to  indulge  the  hope  that  by  any 
modern  wisdom  we  shall  learn  when  or  what 
“the  end  of  the  world”  shall  be.  However, 
I  want  to  call  attention  to  two  very  interesting 
facts  connected  with  the  general  subject  of 
our  study  in  the  following  brief  sections. 


HARMONY  AMONG  THE  PROPHETS 


HARMONY  AMONG  THE  PROPHETS 


IF  I  doubted  the  divine  origin  of  the 
Bible  and  yet  had  read  the  various  pre¬ 
dictions  of  the  end  of  the  present  Age 
given  by  Christ  and  His  Apostles,  I 
would  certainly  be  seriously  impressed  with 
the  following  facts.  First,  it  would  surprise 
me  to  learn  that  no  other  group  of  teachers 
has  ever  ventured  in  an  attempt  to  even  sug¬ 
gest  a  definite  culmination  of  the  present  order 
of  things.  If  among  the  giant  minds  that  have 
devoted  themselves  to  the  cause  of  Christian¬ 
ity  or  indeed  to  Religion  or  Philosophy  in  any 
form,  there  has  not  been  a  single  spirit  so  en¬ 
lightened  as  to  feel  entitled  to  speak  upon  so 
weighty  a  subject,  then  the  men  who  did  speak 
and  write  with  such  simple  assurance  would 
impress  me  with  the  alternative,  that  they  must 
have  been  either  the  princes  of  egotists  or  that 
they  believed  themselves  enlightened  of  God. 

23 


24  Twilight:  The  Sign  of  His  Coming 

Accompanying  this  would  necessarily  be  an¬ 
other  suggestive  fact,  viz.,  that  although  the 
Lord  Jesus  and  His  Apostles  wrote  or  were 
reported  under  a  variety  of  circumstances 
which  would  naturally  furnish  a  variety  of 
thought  or  want  of  uniformity  of  prophecy, 
yet  there  is  in  all  these  most  startling  por¬ 
trayals  of  the  final  earthly  Crisis  a  striking 
harmony  and  uniformity  amidst  the  great 
variety  of  language  and  changed  emphasis 
brought  before  us.  Indeed,  it  is  difficult  for 
an  honest  Bible  student  to  evade  this  convic¬ 
tion,  that  these  men  were  taught  of  God  as 
to  the  end  of  the  Age  and  the  Coming  of 
our  Lord. 

Our  Liberal  Critics  most  graciously  admit 
that  these  poetic  pictures  of  the  great  crisis 
at  the  end  of  this  Age  have  behind  them  or 
beneath  them  or  within  them,  an  important 
fact;  but  that  they  cannot  be  held  up  as  an 
exact  program  of  the  Second  Coming  of  the 
Son  of  Man.  They  do  not  base  their  objec- 


Harmony  Among  the  Prophets  2$ 

tions  to  this  abrupt  ending  of  all  the  affairs 
of  men  upon  any  definite  theory,  but  insist  that 
the  speakers  themselves  were  evidently  misled 
as  to  the  time  when  these  things  should  be 
and  thus  were  not  safe  guides  as  to  the  events 
themselves. 

Let  us  first  give  some  thoughtful  inquiry 

% 

into  what  Christ  actually  said  about  His  re¬ 
turn  which  appears  on  the  surface  as  being 
difficult  to  harmonize.  It  is  insisted  that  both 
Christ  and  the  Apostles  taught  that  the  re¬ 
turn  of  the  Lord  was  to  be  witnessed  by  men 
of  that  generation  and  that  they  evidently  be¬ 
lieved  that  many  then  living  would  see  the 
Son  of  Man  coming  in  the  clouds  of  Heaven. 

There  are  always  storm-texts  as  well  as 
proof-texts  for  every  theory;  but  the  ones 
most  frequently  cited  from  the  statements  of 
Christ  are  the  familiar  words  of  Matthew 
16:28,  “Verily  I  say  unto  you,  there  be  some 
standing  here  which  shall  not  taste  of  death 
till  they  see  the  Son  of  Man  coming  in  His 


2 6  Twilight:  The  Sign  of  His  Coming 

Kingdom.”  Both  Mark  and  Luke  record  with 
great  precision  the  same  statement  of  Christ; 
each  one  following  with  a  report  of  the  Son 
of  Man  “after  six  days”  transfigured  upon 
the  Mount  with  the  frightened  and  yet  wor¬ 
shipful  disciples  gazing  upon  “The  Son  of 
Man  coming  in  His  Kingdom.”  To  them  it 
was  there  given  to  have  a  glimpse  of  the  tran¬ 
scendent  glory  which  will  some  day  dazzle 
the  vision  of  a  redeemed  Church  in  the  King¬ 
dom  of  Heaven.  In  miniature  the  great  scene 
was  before  them  and  the  pledge  made  by 
Christ  was  most  quickly  and  literally  fulfilled. 
The  difficulty  here  then  is  a  purely  imaginary 
one,  requiring  no  high  order  of  intellect  or 
scholarship  but  rather  an  approach  to  the  sub¬ 
ject  with  the  expectation  that  its  interpretation 
lies  within  the  reach  of  the  normal  mind. 
These  very  Disciples  did  “See  the  Son  of  Man 
coming  in  His  Kingdom”  on  the  mount  of 
transfiguration. 

The  more  intricate  reply  of  Christ  to  the 


Harmony  Among  the  Prophets  27 

inquiry  of  the  Disciples,  “Tell  us  when  shall 
these  things  be?  And,  what  shall  be  the  sign 
of  Thy  coming  and  of  the  end  of  the  world?” 
(Matt.  24:3),  involves  far  too  much  to  be 
treated  fully  in  so  brief  a  manner  even  were 
I  equal  to  the  task.  And  yet  may  I  ask  you 
to  consider  with  me  also  this  two-fold  ques¬ 
tion  and  then  study  at  your  leisure  Christ’s 
two-fold  answer  and  see  if  our  difficulties  here 
also  are  not  greatly  lessened  ?  Christ  is  speak¬ 
ing  of  the  overthrow  of  the  Temple  and  the 
downfall  of  Jerusalem  when  a  little  later 
under  the  shades  of  Olivet  the  Disciples  recall 
his  pathetic  recital  of  the  impending  doom; 
and  longing  for  fuller  particulars  they  group 
what  in  their  minds  had  come  to  occupy  the 
same  place  in  Time — the  overthrow  of  the 
Holy  City  and  the  overthrow  of  the  world. 
Indeed  it  was  impossible  for  them  to  conceive 
of  a  world  moving  on  in  its  usual  activities 
with  Jerusalem  practically  gone.  Thus  their 
query,  “When  shall  these  things  be?”  (Jeru- 


28  Twilight:  The  Sign  of  His  Coming 

salem  in  ruins  with  its  temple  razed  to  the 
ground)  “And  what  shall  be  the  sign  of  thy 
Coming  and  of  the  end  of  the  world?”  The 
remainder  of  this  24th  of  Matthew  with  the 
one  following  is  the  Evangelists’  report  of  the 
reply,  graphic  indeed  and  highly  parabolic, 
but  nevertheless  a  divine  answer  to  a  human 
question.  It  is  folly  to  insist  that  the  differ¬ 
ent  crises  reported  by  Matthew  as  being  given 
by  our  Lord  is  a  clear  and  satisfying  one. 
We  do  not  question  one  statement  in  the  en¬ 
tire  series  of  startling  declarations  given  us  in 
this  answer,  but  we  do  not  feel  compelled  to 
believe  that  Matthew  has  always  given  us  in 
the  exact  order  the  discourse  as  it  came  from 
the  lips  of  the  great  Teacher.  No  possible 
interpretations  can  relieve  us  of  all  our  difficul¬ 
ties  in  this  study;  but  the  statement  that  “This 
generation  shall  not  pass  till  all  these  things 
be  fulfilled”  is  enlarged  in  its  meaning  when 
we  remember  that  the  Greek  term  here  is 
frequently  translated  “family”  or  “race”  as 


Harmony  Among  the  Prophets  29 

well  as  “generation.”  And  surely  the  Jewish 
family  or  race  is  as  much  in  evidence  to-day 
as  when  He  spoke  the  words  from  the  hill 
which  overlooked  their  capitol.  The  genera¬ 
tion  of  the  Jews  remains  and  will  remain  to 
witness  the  pageant  so  painfully  culminating  in 
the  closing  up  of  Time.  The  overthrow  of 
Jerusalem  which  was  to  be  witnessed  by  that 
most  unhappy  people  was  so  disastrous  an 
hour  as  to  typify  in  a  very  lurid  manner  the 
great  day  of  His  wrath  when  all  nations 
would  witness  His  executions  against  the  in¬ 
iquities  of  all  cities.  It  is  quite  easy  to  see 
how  the  description  in  this  chapter  of  Jerusa¬ 
lem’s  downfall  merges  into  the  larger  problem 
of  which  it  is  but  a  type,  a  most  awful  and 
impressive  symbol!  The  Disciples  proposed 
a  double  question  and  Christ  has  given  a  two¬ 
fold  answer.  Jerusalem  fell  before  the  armies 
of  Rome  and  its  ghastly  ruin  was  typical  of 
an  event  that  will  involve  all  cities — “the  sign 
of  Thy  Coming  and  of  the  end  of  the  world.” 


THE  PURPOSES  OF  PROPHECY 


THE  PURPOSES  OF  PROPHECY 


WHAT  our  eminent  scholars  have 
said  upon  the  functions  of  the 
prophet  or  the  mystery  of  his 
message  needs  here  no  duplica¬ 
tion.  There  are  simpler  and  yet  no  less  vital 
features  of  this  matter  before  us,  related  to 
much  that  interests  all  minds  hungering  for 
facts  concerning  the  great  Unseen  and  the 
possibility  and  certainty  of  communication  be¬ 
tween  these  two  worlds.  All  who  lay  away 
their  beloved  dead  awake  to  the  seriousness 
of  this  appealing  and  insatiable  heart-cry,  “Is 
there  life  beyond  and  does  a  voice  speak  to  us 
from  behind  the  cloud?”  A  study  of  prophecy 
as  preserved  for  us  in  the  Scriptures  gives  a 
comforting  answer.  It  is  true  that  we  are 
not  dependent  alone  upon  what  has  been  pre¬ 
served  to  us  in  Holy  Writ,  but  we  certainly 

33 


34  Twilight:  The  Sign  of  His  Coming 

cannot  dispense  with  such  telling  evidence  as 
it  provides.  However,  we  do  not  know  with 
our  very  limited  intelligence  what  the  entire 
purpose  of  God  has  been  in  transmitting 
through  chosen  vessels  the  long  series  of 
prophetic  utterances  which  were  compiled 
during  the  centuries  in  which  the  canon  of 
Scripture  was  being  completed. 

Christ  very  clearly  declares  the  truth  was 
spoken  in  Parables  by  Him  that  the  worldly 
wise  might  see  and  hear  and  yet  be  left  blind 
and  deaf.  Truth  was  only  to  be  bought  at 
a  large  price  and  its  discovery  made  by  men 
of  earnest  spirit, — men  who  search  for  it  as 
for  hidden  treasure.  One  of  the  very  charms 
of  Parables  is  the  evident  and  latent  facts  en¬ 
shrouded  in  elusive  mystery.  The  untraveled 
area  provides  an  unending  study  so  that  no 
group  of  students  can  ever  exhaust  the  field. 
Is  not  the  very  same  principle  before  us  in 
the  study  of  Prophecy  as  of  Parables?  The 
two  are  often  related  and  sometimes  joined, 


The  Purposes  of  Prophecy  35 

and  the  study  of  one  throws  light  upon  the 
other. 

Now  it  was  within  the  possibilities  of  the 
Holy  Spirit  to  have  declared  through  the 
prophets  that  Christ  would  be  born  in  Bethle¬ 
hem  and  brought  up  in  Nazareth,  but  instead 
of  this  He  announces  through  the  prophets 
that  while  the  future  Messiah  was  to  come 
from  Bethlehem,  “He  shall  be  called  a  Naza- 
rene.”  It  took  patient  study  of  history  to 
reconcile  these  and  many  other  similar  declara¬ 
tions  concerning  our  Lord.  When  you  now 
read  the  life  of  Christ  in  the  light  of  the 
great  prophecies  concerning  Him  you  marvel 
that  any  honest  student  of  the  Old  Testament 
can  reject  the  Christ  of  the  New.  If  the 
predictions  of  the  Old  Testament  were  thus 
clouded  in  mystery  concerning  the  First  Ad¬ 
vent  of  our  Lord,  must  we  not  be  patient  with 
ourselves  and  with  all  inquirers  who  long  to 
know  the  truth  and  yet  who  are  perplexed  as 
to  what  is  written  concerning  His  Second 


3 6  Twilight:  The  Sign  of  His  Coming 

Coming?  Must  we  not  be  willing  to  wait  in 
reverent  study  of  these  great  predictions  as¬ 
sured  that  as  the  seeming  impossible  and  ir- 
reconcilible  statements  of  the  ancient  prophets 
were  all  made  to  fit  into  the  warp  and  woof 
of  the  seamless  robe  which  covered  His  sacred 
form,  so  we  shall  discover  when  “He  appears 
the  Second  Time  without  sin  unto  salvation” 
that  every  particular  of  the  program  was  en¬ 
tirely  realized,  and  the  “Appearing  of  our 
God  and  Saviour”  had  been  most  wisely  inti¬ 
mated  to  us  by  both  the  Lord  Jesus  and  those 
who  gave  inspired  testimony  of  His  purpose 
to  come  again. 

We  who  study  the  Scriptures  to-day  to 
learn  what  has  been  revealed  about  His  Com¬ 
ing  at  the  end  of  this  present  Age,  are  more 
favored  than  were  those  who  waited  like 
Anna  and  Simeon  for  the  consolation  of  Israel 
in  the  person  of  the  Messiah.  We  have  not 
only  a  much  more  explicit  group  of  prophetic 
utterances  than  had  been  granted  to  the  wait- 


The  Purposes  of  Prophecy  37 

ing  Israelites  and  so  have  a  fuller  knowledge 
of  God’s  purpose  in  the  Second  Advent  of 
His  Son;  but  we  may  also  be  saved  from  cer¬ 
tain  serious  blunders  which  were  made  by 
these  ancient  seekers  for  the  truth  in  noting 
the  fact  that  what  was  often  a  spiritual  prom¬ 
ise  they  mistook  for  a  material  blessing  and 
thus  created  in  their  own  minds  prejudices 
which  made  it  practically  impossible  to  receive 
the  promised  One  when  He  appeared  among 
them.  Indeed  the  entire  chosen  race  seemed 
less  prepared  for  His  coming  than  did  the 
Gentile  nations  which  surrounded  them  and 
to  whom  He  was  soon  to  be  revealed  when 
the  Jews  had  rejected  their  promised  Re¬ 
deemer.  With  these  facts  before  us,  we  must 
of  necessity  be  less  dogmatic  than  otherwise 
and  be  influenced  in  both  our  study  and  con¬ 
clusions  by  the  pathetic  memory  of  a  Hebrew 
scholarship  which  flooded  the  literature  of 
that  day  with  an  expectation  of  an  age  of 
wealth  and  national  power  and  conquest;  all 


38  Twilight:  The  Sign  of  His  Coming 

to  be  cast  to  the  winds  in  the  coming  of  the 
“Lowly  One  having  salvation.” 

The  precise  method  of  that  Second  Com¬ 
ing  we  may  not  determine  and  yet  the  main 
features  are  not  left  undefined,  whether  we 
listen  to  the  Lord  Jesus  before  Caiaphas 
declaring  that  “Hereafter  shall  ye  see  the 
Son  of  Man  sitting  on  the  right  hand  of  power 
and  coming  in  the  clouds  of  heaven,”  or  turn 
to  the  majestic  prophecies  left  us  by  those 
giant  Apostles — Peter  and  Paul, — where  we 
find  the  same  extraordinary  predictions  all  so 
distinctly  in  the  realm  of  the  super-natural 
and  yet  all  in  such  unique  harmony,  that  we 
stand  in  reverence  and  worship  and  marvel 
while  we  adore. 

There  is,  however,  a  disturbing  objection 
which  merits  more  than  usual  consideration. 
Those  cavillers  who  argue  that  the  physical 
conditions  depicted  are  improbable,  “In  the 
which  the  heavens  shall  pass  away  with  a 
great  noise,  the  earth  also  and  the  works 


The  Purposes  of  Prophecy  39 

that  are  therein  shall  be  burned  up,”  (II  Peter 
3:10)  know  not  of  what  they  speak.  If 
some  slight  disorder  in  the  sun  can  bring  the 
tornadoes  and  floods  which  are  sweeping 
America  while  I  write,  a  great  conflagration 
among  the  stars  would  have  before  it  an  easy 
task  to  call  forth  the  slumbering  flames  in  the 
earth’s  interior  and  wrap  our  planet  in  a 
sheet  of  fire.  Thoughful  scientists  find  no 
difficulty  in  that  method  of  ruin  foretold  in 
the  Epistles.  The  real  problem  is  quite  differ¬ 
ent  in  its  nature. 

It  is  urged  by  many  able  and  devout  schol¬ 
ars  that  the  Apostles  themselves  were  deceived 
as  to  the  time  of  the  Second  Coming  and  were 
expecting  the  Lord  during  the  first  genera¬ 
tion  of  the  Christian  era.  We  must  maintain 
stoutly  however  that  they  did  not  so  declare! 
It  is  most  probable  that  they  did  not  expect 
the  conflict  between  good  and  evil  to  continue 
for  two  thousand  years.  When  Isaiah  and 
Daniel  foretold  in  glowing  figures  the  happy 


40  Twilight:  The  Sign  of  His  Coming 

hour  when  the  Desire  of  all  nations  should 
come  they  did  not  know  that  many  long  weary 
centuries  must  drag  on  before  the  silence  and 
monotony  of  its  seeming  hopelessness  would 
be  broken  by  the  song  of  the  angels  to  the 
shepherds  of  Judea.  Indeed  it  is  evident  that 
none  of  the  prophets  fully  interpreted  the  di¬ 
vine  revelations  made  to  them.  The  follow¬ 
ing  statement  by  Simon  Peter  throws  much 
light  upon  the  entire  range  of  prophecy  and 
declares  that  while  the  revelation  which  was 
communicated  to  the  world  in  the  Old  Testa¬ 
ment  was  a  true  one,  the  messenger  through 
whom  the  message  came  was  often  in  darkness 
as  to  its  large  meaning.  Read  carefully  this 
statement  by  Simon  Peter,  “Of  which  salva¬ 
tion  the  prophets  have  inquired  and  searched 
diligently;  searching  what  or  what  manner  of 
time  the  Spirit  of  Christ  which  was  in  them 
did  signify  when  it  testified  before  hand  the 
sufferings  of  Christ  and  the  glory  that  should 
follow.”  (I  Peter  1:10-12). 


The  Purposes  of  Prophecy  41 

We  remember  how  Jeremiah  in  the  great 
anguish  of  his  soul,  conscious  of  his  delusion, 
cried  out,  “Oh  Lord,  Thou  hast  deceived 
me !”  Nothing  had  been  fulfilled  in  the  man¬ 
ner  anticipated  by  this  prophet  of  tears.  Every 
jot  and  tittle  must  be  fulfilled  but  all  so 
strangely  and  untimely  from  the  prophet’s 
viewpoint.  Hath  not  all  this  its  lessons  for 
us?  If  the  prophets  of  the  redemptive  work 
of  our  Lord  were  not  clear  as  to  “what  man¬ 
ner  of  time”  the  tragedy  of  the  Cross  would 
occur  in  the  history  of  the  Race,  why  should 
we  be  surprised  if  the  prophets  of  the  Second 
Coming  of  our  Lord  were  left  uninformed 
upon  so  interesting  an  expectation  of  the  ex¬ 
act  time  of  His  return.  The  promise  of  the 
Messiah  was  for  all  generations  of  the  He¬ 
brew  people  as  a  stimulus  to  keep  in  readiness 
for  the  great  hour;  and  the  makers  of  the 
New  Testament  were  writing  for  all  the 
Church — though  they  probably  knew  it  not — 
till  the  day  of  His  appearing  to  receive  His 


42  Twilight:  The  Sign  of  His  Coming 

Bride  and  conduct  her  back  to  His  Father’s 
House. 

If  these  seers  of  the  Old  Testament  dimly 
beheld  the  Coming  of  the  Christ  and  yet  under 
their  exalted  illumination  were  not  informed 
as  to  the  year  or  decade  or  century  to  be  thus 
glorified  by  this  event  of  all  history  as  well  as 
of  all  prophecy,  need  we  marvel  if  the  New 
Testament  seers  give  evidence  of  a  limited 
vision  beyond  which  they  could  not  peer. 
However,  there  is  much  to  be  said  against 
this  generous  concession,  and  I  feel  that  we 
may  profit  by  a  study  of  what  suggests  itself 
regarding  it.  Our  danger  after  accepting 
any  great  doctrine  or  theory  is  to  expect  all 
other  doctrines  to  bow  before  our  idol  and 
all  texts  to  throw  some  fresh  light  upon  our 
new  discovery.  The  Bible  is  broader  than 
this  and  ignores  the  anticipations  or  prejudices 
of  the  usual  student. 

It  becomes  evident  as  we  study  the  prophe¬ 
cies  that  many  of  them  have  a  two-fold  ap- 


The  Purposes  of  Prophecy  43 

plication ;  first,  to  a  smaller  event ;  and  second, 
to  a  larger  one  of  which  the  smaller  incident 
is  a  type  or  suggestion.  Many  of  the  ancient 
predictions  of  the  coming  Messiah  applied  in 
a  meagre  way  to  Moses  or  David  or  Daniel 
and  then  its  fuller  significance  was  discovered 
alone  in  the  ministry  and  sacrifice  of  our  Lord. 
It  is  useless  to  object  to  these  confusing  fea¬ 
tures  of  prophecy, — its  two-fold  and  oftimes 
misleading  message.  The  exalted  purposes 
of  prophecy  are  evidently  realized  by  this 
obscure  manner  of  revelation,  luring  honest 
hearts  to  study  and  research,  comparing  Scrip¬ 
ture  with  Scripture  and  thus  preparing  rever¬ 
ent  and  devout  minds  for  the  rich  fruits  of 
such  patient  toil  and  leaving  superficial  and 
feverish  students  in  the  shadow  of  their  own 
conceits. 


WERE  THE  APOSTLES  MISTAKEN? 


. 

* 

% 


WERE  THE  APOSTLES  MISTAKEN? 


w 


HEN  we  consider  the  foregoing 
we  are  persuaded  that  the  princi¬ 
ples  so  evident  in  the  Old  Testa¬ 
ment  predictions  of  the  future  are 


naturally  to  be  expected  in  the  continued  pro¬ 
phetic  utterances  of  Christ  and  His  Apostles; 
viz.,  that  much  that  is  given  us  as  a  Hope  for 
all  generations  of  Christians  is  also  fore¬ 
shadowed  by  events  familiar  to  those  who 
hear  the  word  spoken.  Thus  we  saw  how  the 
overthrow  of  Jerusalem  as  recorded  in  the 
twenty-fourth  of  Matthew  was  a  type  of  “The 
end  of  the  world;”  and  it  is  evident  that  death 
is  also  thus  classified  as  an  event  which  is 
like  the  Judgment  and  the  Coming  of  Christ. 
“Be  ye  also  ready  for  in  such  an  hour  as  ye 
think  not,  the  Son  of  Man  cometh,”  must  have 
included  the  crisis  of  death  as  well  as  the 
end  of  the  Age.  If  this  is  too  liberal  an 


47 


48  Twilight:  The  Sign  of  His  Coming 

exegesis  I  have  only  to  reply  that  it  seems  in 
harmony  with  the  poetic  freedom  with  which 
great  religious  truths  are  given  us  in  the 
Scriptures,  in  their  garb  of  Oriental  imagery 
— the  loose  flowing  garments  of  Eastern 
thought.  This  interpretation  of  texts  avoids 
many  apparent  contradictions  and  is  in  accord 
with  much  that  we  know  to  be  two-fold  in  its 
larger  meaning  in  both  the  Old  and  New 
Testament  writings. 

The  last  word  is  not  yet  spoken  by  any 
voice  on  this  highly  interesting  subject.  When 
the  Apostles  declared,  “The  end  of  all  things 
is  at  hand,”  it  is  not  evident  that  they  were 
thinking  of  what  we  speak  of  as,  “The  end 
of  this  present  Age.”  Persecution  was  rife, 
the  slaughter  of  the  saints  was  soon  to  begin, 
the  number  of  martyrs  were  to  glorify  the  new 
Religion  in  all  the  tortures  by  which  the  prince 
of  darkness  was  to  continue  his  warfare;  and 
those  who  were  to  escape  would  soon  be  over¬ 
taken  by  the  hastening  steps  of  the  last  enemy 


Were  the  Apostles  Mistaken? 


49 


who  bears  the  name  of  Death.  Why  then 
live  for  Time  when  Eternity  is  so  near — “The 
end  of  all  things  is  at  hand.”  These  types  and 
shadows  of  the  great  final  crisis  are  spoken  of 
in  language  similar  to  that  used  for  the  mighty 
event  itself. 

Another  very  weighty  consideration  is  the 
explicit  language  of  explanation  which  the 
Apostle  Paul  uses  in  correcting  the  idea 
gathered  from  his  Letters;  for  what  he  had 
written  in  his  first  epistle  to  the  Thessalonians 
had  been  interpreted  as  declaring  that,  “The 
day  of  Christ  is  at  hand.”  To  correct  this 
misinterpretation  the  Apostle  states  most 
clearly  in  his  Second  Epistle  that  he  had  been 
wrongly  read,  that  there  were  great  devices 
of  Evil  which  were  not  yet  in  evidence  to  be 
fulfilled  before  the  end  could  come.  “Be  not 
soon  shaken  in  mind,  or  be  troubled,  neither 
by  spirit  nor  by  word,  nor  by  letter  as  from 
us,  as  that  the  day  of  the  Christ  is  at  hand.” 
(II  Thess.  2:2).  If  the  first  generations  of 


50  Twilight:  The  Sign  of  His  Coming 

Christians  so  sadly  blundered  in  their  study 
of  what  St.  Paul  had  written  upon  the  Second 
Coming,  may  not  modern  students  be  guilty 
of  the  same  error?  We  sincerely  think  that 
they  are !  Satan  and  Christ  are  each  to  do 
mighty  things  first. 

It  would  seem  that  the  great  Apostle  Was 
permitted  to  see  in  dim  outline  God’s  future 
program  to  precede  the  Second  Advent  as 
Daniel  foresaw  the  rise  and  fall  of  empires 
which  must  precede  the  first  coming  of  the 
Man  of  Nazareth;  but  that  neither  of  these 
heralds  of  these  days  of  destiny  were  permit¬ 
ted  to  judge  of  the  necessary  time  to  elapse 
before  the  clock  should  strike  the  hour.  What¬ 
ever  conviction  our  study  of  these  views  may 
finally  create,  it  seems  most  evident  that  the 
prophetic  writers  of  both  dispensations  were 
given  very  clear  revelations  of  God’s  far- 
reaching  purposes  which  projected  into  the 
distant  future,  but  that  their  private  inter¬ 
pretation  of  these  same  unfoldings  of  the  mind 


W ere  the  Apostles  Mistaken ?  51 

of  the  Spirit  were  possibly  as  faulty  as  our 
own.  To  our  safety  be  it  remembered  that 
the  Holy  Scriptures  are  the  original  revela¬ 
tions  and  are  not  the  defective  human  in¬ 
terpretation  of  the  message.  We  are  favored 
with  “The  sure  word  of  prophecy”  and  not 
with  “Cunningly  devised  fables”  or  the  work 
which  came  by  “The  will  of  man.”  The 
great  Book  gives  us  the  original  communica¬ 
tions  by  the  Holy  Spirit.  We  are  left  to  dis¬ 
cover  their  deep  meanings. 


WILL  THE  WORLD  GROW  WORSE 

OR  BETTER? 


WILL  THE  WORLD  GROW  WORSE 

OR  BETTER  ? 


There  remains  one  large  question 
which  I  confess  is  far  beyond  my 
ability  to  answer,  but  I  may  be  per¬ 
mitted  to  state  what  brings  a  sense 
of  rest  to  my  own  spirit  when  I  find  an  im¬ 
perative  answer  demanded.  The  question  is 
this,  “Will  Good  or  Evil  triumph  in  this 
present  Age?”  I  need  not  add  that  to  every 
true  heart  there  can  be  but  one  longing — the 
triumph  of  Good — unless  that  heart  is  buried 
beneath  a  mountain  of  theories  and  prejudices 
which  forbid  the  recognition  of  the  forces  at 
work.  If  this  were  a  mere  compilation  of 
texts  I  should  find  myself  standing  between 
two  Egyptian  pyramids  each  as  gigantic  as  the 
other;  for  the  predictions  which  declare  that 
the  forces  of  Evil  will  not  relax  till  their 

55 


56  Twilight:  The  Sign  of  His  Coming 

last  relentless  blow  is  struck  against  the  King¬ 
dom  of  God,  is  only  equalled  by  prophecy  and 
parable  which  tell  us  that  the  Lord  Jesus 
“Will  not  fail  nor  be  discouraged  until  He 
has  set  judgment  in  the  earth.”  It  is  not  sur¬ 
prising  that  two  camps  have  been  formed 
among  devout  believers  of  these  prophetic 
utterances — known  as  the  Pre  and  Post- 
Millenarians.  But  is  not  the  truth  to  be 
found  in  marching  between  these  same  pyra¬ 
mids  and  not  by  ignoring  either  one  or  the 
other? 

Is  not  the  great  fact  probably  this,  that  as 
the  sound  of  the  closing  campaign  is  heard,  the 
battle  between  Good  and  Evil  is  more  severe, 
the  children  of  the  Kingdom  more  aggressive 
in  winning  the  world  in  allegiance  to  their 
Lord;  and  the  Prince  of  Darkness  by  more 
cunning  and  subtle  devices,  luring  yea,  drag¬ 
ging  men  into  the  snares  placed  for  their  feet? 
Thus,  the  whole  world  is  brought  to  combat 
and  the  forces  of  Good  and  Evil  both  marked 


Will  the  W orld  Grow  Worse  or  Better?  57 

by  an  intensity  that  made  it  possible  for  the 
prophetic  picture  to  portray  either  the  onward 
march  of  the  “Prince  of  the  power  of  the 
air,  the  Spirit,  that  now  worketh  in  the  chil¬ 
dren  of  disobedience,”  or  the  soldiers  of  the 
Cross  shouting  in  triumph,  “This  Gospel  ot 
the  Kingdom  must  be  preached  to  all  nations 
as  a  witness  to  them  and  then  shall  the  end 
come.”  Both  the  wheat  and  tares  must  grow 
together  until  the  harvest.  It  is  folly  how¬ 
ever,  to  permit  human  Reason  to  imagine  that 
it  can  determine  when  these  prophetic  pic¬ 
tures  are  finished.  There  may  be  many 
touches  by  the  Divine  Artist  which  are  far  too 
delicate  for  man’s  vision  to  discover.  To  us 
the  prophecy  may  seem  fulfilled  while  to  Him 
it  is  yet  incomplete  and  requires  time  for  the 
Church  to  finish  her  stupendous  task,  and  time 
also  for  the  Amorites  to  fill  its  cup  of  iniquity 
to  the  brim.  We  know  not  what  great  Moral 
Reform,  Social  Regeneration,  Spiritual  Re¬ 
vivals  and  Racial  Progress  is  unfulfilled,  nor 


58  Twilight:  The  Sign  of  His  Coining 

how  large  are  God’s  purposes  which  we  are 
destined  to  witness  accomplished  in  any  of 
these  spheres ;  neither  do  we  know  what  apos¬ 
tasy  of  the  Church  we  must  behold,  how  the 
gods  of  gold  and  silver  and  force  will  supplant 
the  God  of  Heaven  and  Earth,  how  man  will 
bow  to  Science  rather  than  Jehovah,  the  crea¬ 
ture  rather  than  the  Creator;  to  lust  and  greed 
and  pleasure — before  the  end  shall  be.  Like 
the  mighty  sea  with  its  ebb  and  flow,  it  may 
rise  and  fall  till  the  storm  breaks  and  the  wild 
billows  lash  themselves  in  their  destructive 
rage.  Thus  may  Good  and  Evil,  God  and 
Satan,  push  the  battle  till  the  final  Crisis. 
Of  that  day  and  hour,  I  do  not  even  conjec¬ 
ture.  It  may  be  at  hand  or  my  Lord  may 
delay  His  coming.  Every  man  must  he  on  his 
watch! 

This  brief  answer  to  a  large  question  may 
not  satisfy  all  who  share  in  the  same  blessed 
Hope  of  the  glorious  Appearing  of  our  Lord. 
To  my  own  mind  the  definite  pledges  are  suffi- 


Will  the  W orld  Grow  Worse  or  Better?  59 

cient  to  bring  both  comfort  and  expectation. 
The  wheat  and  the  tares  must  grow  together; 
the  sheep  and  the  goats  must  graze  side  by 
side;  the  righteous  and  the  wicked  must  share 
in  life’s  blessings  and  labors  and  successes  and 
bear  together  its  burdens  and  its  griefs.  The 
whole  world  must  hear  the  glad  tidings  of 
great  joy  and  all  nations  must  sit  beneath  the 
rays  of  light  from  the  Cross;  the  final  pur¬ 
poses  of  God  must  be  realized  and  the  Son  of 
Man  “Shall  see  of  the  travail  of  His  soul  and 
be  satisfied” — then  shall  the  Heavens  be  illu¬ 
mined  with  the  brightness  of  His  coming  and 
all  the  holy  angels  with  Him.  Glorious 
precious  Hope !  Our  hearts  keep  calling  out, 
“Watchman,  what  of  the  night?”  and  the 
answer  comes  back  in  clear  tones,  “The  night 
cometh  and  also  the  morning.”  Wonderful 
morning,  when  shall  dawn  the  beauties  of  the 
“New  heavens  and  the  new  earth  wherein 
dwelleth  righteousness.”  “Even  so  come 
Lord  Jesus!” 


WHAT  ATTITUDE  SHALL  WE 

TAKE? 


WHAT  ATTITUDE  SHALL  WE  TAKE? 


THE  large  revelation  of  the  Scrip¬ 
tures  is  too  broad  for  the  narrow 
intellect  of  man.  Few  of  us  can 
compass  the  great  truths  of  Chris¬ 
tianity  and  hold  them  in  correct  rank  in  the 
gallery  of  our  thoughts.  We  may  chide  our 
opponents  for  their  devotion  to  “Narrow  no¬ 
tions”  but  when  measured  in  the  light  of  a 
New  Testament  ideal  of  truth,  we  are  all 
guilty  of  undue  emphasis  upon  those  special 
doctrines  to  which  our  own  hearts  have  given 
their  warmest  response.  It  is  not  surprising 
then,  that  there  are  two  camps  where  the 
extremes  are  to  be  observed  toward  the  doc¬ 
trine  of  the  Second  Coming.  In  one  com¬ 
pany  all  is  quiet  and  the  great  Hope  of  the 
Church  in  our  Lord’s  return  is  unobserved 
by  even  a  passing  reference.  If  one  inquires 

63 


64  Twilight:  The  Sign  of  His  Coming 

why  this  silence  upon  a  subject  so  prominent 
in  the  Gospels  and  the  Epistles,  he  will  prob¬ 
ably  be  told  that  the  doctrine  when  discussed 
only  awakens  controversy  and  confusion; 
that  fanatics  are  lured  into  a  study  of  such 
minute  and  pretentious  claims  as  to  predict  the 
exact  time  when  the  heavens  shall  give  back 
to  earth  the  Lord  of  life  and  glory  and  the 
throne  of  David  shall  once  more  be  establish¬ 
ed  in  the  ancient  coasts  of  Judea.  The  doc¬ 
trine  is  so  unfortunately  presented  by  those 
who  insist  that  they  understand  the  entire  pro¬ 
gram  of  the  days  of  judgment  and  further 
reign,  that  these  teachers  discard  those  thrill¬ 
ing  sections  of  New  Testament  prediction 
which  seeks  to  unfold  them.  We  must  not 
be  impatient  with  those  who  are  thus  affected. 
It  is  not  strange  that  the  wild  and  premature 
cry  of  the  self-appointed  messenger,  “Behold 
the  bridegroom  cometh,”  should  have  had  this 
pathetic  sequel.  The  bridegroom  did  not  ap¬ 
pear  and  as  the  silence  of  the  long  night  wore 


What  Attitude  Shall  We  Take ?  65 

on  men  slumbered  and  slept,  while  others  who 
were  awake  declared  that  He  had  already 
come  and  gone  or  that  He  would  never  again 
appear.  However,  the  promise  was  given  as 
He  ascended  from  the  crest  of  Olivet  and  the 
same  promise  must  be  fulfilled.  “This  same 
Jesus  which  is  taken  up  into  heaven  from  you, 
shall  so  come  in  like  manner  as  ye  have  seen 
Him  go  into  heaven.”  (Acts  1:11).  He 
has  already  come  in  many  ways  but  He  has 
not  yet  come  “in  like  manner”  as  He  went, 
and  it  is  for  this  return  that  we  must  labor 
and  watch.  The  details  of  that  great  event 
may  be  both  spiritual  and  literal  so  that  we 
need  not  insist  upon  our  poor  meager  minds 
accepting  a  set  of  theories  which  we  feel  oblig¬ 
ed  to  harmonize;  but  the  great  central  and 
glorious  truth  that  He  is  coming  again  “in 
like  manner  as  He  went,”  is  too  definitely  and 
frequently  reiterated  to  admit  of  evasion.  We 
must  not  only  _face  it  but  rejoice  in  the 
triumph  of  our  Lord’s  return. 


66  Twilight:  The  Sign  of  His  Coming 

However,  there  are  Biblical  facts  which 
must  strongly  influence  our  estimate  and  at¬ 
titude  when  attempting  to  place  this  truth 
where  it  is  so  prominently  ranged  in  Scripture. 
When  it  is  declared  that,  “to  those  who  look 
for  Him  shall  He  appear  the  Second  Time 
without  sin  unto  salvation,”  it  is  not  to  be  in¬ 
ferred  that  the  richest  promise  is  reserved  for 
the  dreamer  and  star  gazer.  Far  from  it! 
The  look  which  will  bring  this  unspeakable 
reward  is  of  those  who  believing  in  the  transi¬ 
tory  and  discordant  things  of  Time,  keep  their 
eyes  toward  the  hills,  knowing  that  our  Lord 
will  come  to  dethrone  evil  and  right  wrongs 
and  establish  righteousness.  Their  views 
about  the  Second  Coming  may  be  dissimilar 
but  their  confidence  in  the  final  reign  of  Christ 
is  begotten  of  the  same  Spirit.  They  do  not 
despair  at  the  rumors  of  war  and  the  sound 
of  strife  and  the  conflict  of  the  nations;  for 
they  “endure  as  seeing  Him  who  is  invisible,” 
knowing  that  He  too  is  at  work  though  as 


What  Attitude  Shall  We  Take?  67 

silently  as  the  leaven  which  the  woman  hid 
in  three  measures  of  meal. 

We  must  not  fail  to  notice  that  the  return 
of  our  Lord  is  not  emphasized  in  all  the 
great  Epistles — though  doubtless  assumed — 
indicating  that  the  Apostles  did  not  rank  this 
truth  as  an  indispensable  saving  doctrine.  Be¬ 
cause  many  of  our  great  pulpits  do  not  give 
forth  a  certain  note  on  the  Second  Coming 
it  is  surely  not  wise  for  the  advocates  of  this 
glorious  hope  to  infer  that  these  brother 
ministers  fail  to  furnish  an  ample  fare  for 
their  flocks.  The  table  they  provide  may  have 
upon  it  a  greater  variety  of  the  rich  things  of 
Grace  than  is  found  in  the  banquet  hall  of 
those  who  make  much  of  exact  appointments 
and  complete  display  of  china  and  silver  with 
meager  tastes  of  food, — much  of  doctrine  and 
little  of  the  life  hid  with  Christ  in  God.  Let 
us  beware  of  this  error  and  rest  judgment  with 
God.  When  the  glorious  Hope  is  really  seen 
as  the  Hope  it  will  be  preached  by  all. 


68  Twilight:  The  Sign  of  His  Coming 

Some  men  are  loyal  to  this  truth  who  only 
at  intervals  preach  a  distinct  sermon  upon 
it;  though  they  assume  in  clear  language  that 
the  glorious  anticipation  of  our  Lord’s  re¬ 
turn  is  the  cause  of  their  abounding  joy.  With 
His  coming  the  twilight  will  soon  become 
noonday.  The  signs  of  the  Coming  are  many 
but  we  do  not  know  the  chronology  of  the 
Skies  so  we  do  not  venture  to  declare  when  the 
time  is  here.  “But,  beloved,  be  not  ignorant 
of  this  one  thing,  that  one  day  is  with  the 
Lord  as  a  thousand  years  and  a  thousand 
years  as  one  day.  The  Lord  is  not  slack 
concerning  His  promise  as  some  men  count 
slackness,  but  is  long-suffering  to  usward,  not 
willing  that  any  should  perish  but  that  all 
should  come  to  repentance.  Wherefore,  be¬ 
loved,  seeing  that  ye  look  for  such  things,  be 
diligent  that  ye  may  be  found  of  Him  in  peace, 
without  spot  and  blameless.”  (II  Peter 
3  :8-i4) .  This  is  the  value  of  the  doctrine, — 
detachment  from  the  world  and  sin  and  at - 


IF  hat  Attitude  Shall  We  Take?  69 

tachment  to  holiness  and  heaven.  The  Bride 
of  Christ  must  be  in  readiness  for  the  return 
of  her  Lord.  The  Church  must  be  robed  in 
her  beautiful  garments, — “without  spot  and 
blameless.” 


THE  WITNESS  OF  SCIENCE  AND 

HISTORY 


THE  WITNESS  OF  SCIENCE  AND 

HISTORY 


IN  the  ancient  predictions  concerning  the 
closing  of  this  present  age  we  were 
furnished  such  definite  data  as  to  pro¬ 
vide  the  Church  with  scientific  and  his¬ 
torical  facts  that  would  assist  her  to  know 
where  this  unprecedented  crisis  might  be  ex¬ 
pected.  It  is  true  that  Christ  declared  that — 
“of  that  day  and  hour  knoweth  no  man”  but 
he  as  clearly  set  forth  certain  startling  events 
in  Nature  and  in  future  history  that  would 
intimate  to  observing  minds  that  the  larger 
purposes  of  God  for  the  present  age  are  being 
fulfilled.  Those  who  have  scorned  such  testi¬ 
mony  and  have  decried  as  unreliable  all  such 
calculations  have  only  to  contemplate  the 
deadly  European  War  which  has  drawn  into 
its  perilous  net  the  great  Powers  of  that  mili- 

73 


74  Twilight:  The  Sign  of  His  Coming 

tary  world  beyond  the  sea.  Has  the  Arma¬ 
geddon  of  prophecy  truely  come  ?  As  I  write 
its  battles  are  being  waged  and  the  end  is  not 
yet.  Both  Christ  and  the  exponents  of  the 
great  military  moves  by  which  the  Kingdom 
of  God  should  extend  its  borders — in  the 
Gospels  and  the  Apocalypse  declared  that  the 
world  must  yet  witness  and  suffer  from  the 
slaughter  of  the  coming  nations.  The  an¬ 
nouncement  of  Christ  is  enlarged  by  the 
Apostle  John,  the  tender  disciple,  the  natural 
opponent  of  all  war. 

These  two  facts  the  Scriptures  urgently 
press  upon  our  notice  :  First,  that  the  regular 
movements  of  the  Universe  will  be  interrupt¬ 
ed  and  that  what  Science  often  proudly  re¬ 
fers  to  as  the  fixed  laws  of  Nature  will  fail  to 
furnish  us  any  permanent  security,  while 
earthquakes  beneath  us  and  flaming  heavens 
above  us  shall  announce  the  temporary  char¬ 
acter  of  our  present  abode  and  intimate  that 
a  greater  cataclysm  will  surely  come  in  which 


The  Witness  of  Science  and  History  75 

the  present  order  will  be  destroyed  and  a 
new  and  divine  regime  will  be  quickly  ushered 
in.  What  is  most  impressive  about  this  fre¬ 
quent  prediction  of  Nature’s  irregular  actions 
as  furnished  us  in  the  Scriptures  is  that  no 
other  group  of  ancient  sages  or  philosophers 
have  ventured  to  place  such  alarming  events 
in  their  future  programs,  while  the  daring 
writers  of  the  Bible  predicted  the  very  occur¬ 
rences  which  to-day  embarrass  the  men  of 
Science  and  baffle  the  skill  of  modern  life — 
and  may  we  add,  rebuke  its  proud  pretensions 
and  its  haughty  claims.  The  security  of  hu¬ 
man  life  which  it  has  been  believed  and  prom¬ 
ised  would  come  to  us  through  the  advance  of 
mechanical  skill  does  not  arrive.  There  is 
no  protection  against  the  upheavels  of  Nature 
and  by  flame  and  flood,  by  cyclone  and  earth¬ 
quakes  the  poor  and  the  rich  are  swept  from 
their  moorings  out  into  the  current  of  Nature’s 
wild  torrents — relentless,  pitiless  and  seem- 
ingly  purposeless.  The  Scriptures  do  not  give 


76  Twilight:  The  Sign  of  His  Coming 

us  either  the  cause  or  the  design  of  these  seem¬ 
ing  calamities  but  it  does  predict  their  con¬ 
tinuance  and  it  announces  the  devastation  that 
will  be  thus  wrought. 

Linked  to  these  predictions  concerning  the 
riotous  upheavals  of  Nature  are  those  pro¬ 
phetic  views  of  the  great  waste  of  wars  among 
the  nations  of  the  earth,  as  well  as  the  rise  and 
triumph  of  the  beast  and  the  false  prophet  and 
other  forms  of  anti-christ.  The  early  con¬ 
quests  of  Christianity  might  have  led  its  ad¬ 
vocates  to  expect  the  rapid  overthrow  of  Evil 
and  the  reign  of  Christ  in  all  the  earth  but 
under  an  illumination  which  we  are  compelled 
to  believe  must  have  been  from  above,  these 
intense  enthusiasts,  Peter,  Paul,  John,  all  with 
unanimous  pen  portray  those  very  infamies 
which  h&ve  blotted  the  pages  of  Christendom, 
at  the  precise  hour  when  the  dethronment  of 
Evil  seemed  most  hopeful. 

Thus  Science  and  History  but  fulfill  the 
announcement  of  Prophecy  and  the  Scriptures 


The  Witness  of  Science  and  History  77 

come  forth  for  our  comfort,  when  we  see  the 
wrecks  of  Nature  and  hear  the  clash  of  arms 
between  the  great  nations  of  the  earth  and  wit¬ 
ness  the  march  of  iniquity  into  the  very  heart 
of  the  Church.  Two  great  distinctive  and 
seemingly  contradictory  achievements  must  be 
fulfilled  before  the  end  comes.  The  “man  of 
sin  must  be  revealed”  (II  Thess.  2:3)  in  his 
violent  outbursts  in  domestic,  national,  and 
international  combat;  while  the  Prince  of 
Peace  moves  forth  with  His  armored  forces 
in  the  work  of  rescue.  The  foretastes  of 
millennium  bliss  must  be  pressed  to  the  lips 
of  the  faithful  and  the  great  Hope  of  the 
Church  must  be  kept  in  view  lest  the  disciples 
lose  heart  and  despair  of  the  final  triumph  of 
Christ.  The  wheat  must  grow  as  well  as  the 
tares.  Sin  must  make  its  heaviest  blow  but 
God  must  also  reveal  His  saving  power.  Sud¬ 
denly  will  He  come  bringing  back  with  Him 
our  cherished  dead  (I  Thess.  4:13-18)  with 
whom  we  shall  share  the  unspeakable  joys  of 


78  Twilight:  The  Sign  of  His  Coming 

the  reign  of  righteousness.  For  just  as  Jesus, 
the  first  fruits  of  the  Resurrection  returned 
to  His  sacred  body  after  three  days  in  the 
spirit  world,  so  shall  all  who  sleep  in  Jesus 
possess  again  the  resurrected  and  glorified 
bociies  in  which  they  once  dwelt.  “For  if  we 
believe  that  Jesus  died  and  rose  again,  even 
so  them  also  which  sleep  in  Jesus  will  God 
bring  with  Him.  For  this  we  say  unto  you 
by  the  word  of  the  Lord  that  we  which  are 
alive  and  remain  unto  the  coming  of  the  Lord 
shall  not  prevent  (precede)  them  which  are 
asleep.  For  the  Lord  Himself  shall  descend 
from  heaven  with  a  shout — with  the  voice  of 
the  archangel  and  with  the  trump  of  God 
and  the  dead  in  Christ  shall  rise  first.  Then 
we  which  are  alive  and  remain  shall  be  caught 
up  together  with  them  in  the  clouds  to  meet 
the  Lord  in  the  air;  and  so  shall  we  ever  be 
with  the  Lord.  Wherefore  comfort  one  an¬ 
other  with  these  words.”  (I  Thess.  4:14-18). 


WERE  JESUS  AND  PAUL  MISTAKEN? 


I 


WERE  JESUS  AND  PAULMISTAKEN? 


THE  fact  that  two  names  are  men¬ 
tioned  in  the  same  sentence  does 
not  of  necessity  place  those  names 
on  the  same  level.  We  only  couple 
that  of  Jesus  and  Paul  because  their  prophe¬ 
cies  are  similar  in  a  number  of  very  rare  par¬ 
ticulars  concerning  the  Second  Coming.  It  is 
insisted  by  many  that  both  Jesus  and  Paul, 
who  were  Jews  in  blood,  temperament  and 
racial  ambitions  and  expectations,  felt  so 
strongly  the  influence  of  the  prophetic  teach¬ 
ings  of  the  Old  Testament  that  they  fell  under 
its  sway  without  their  own  assent  or  conscious¬ 
ness.  And  further,  that  the  doctrine  of  the 
return  of  Christ  “upon  the  clouds  of  heaven 
in  power  and  great  glory”  was  but  the  out¬ 
come  of  these  Messianic  hopes;  which,  baffled 
in  his  first  mission  must  be  fulfilled  in  his 

3 1 


82  Twilight:  The  Sign  of  His  Coming 

second.  We  cannot  trust  them  fully,  they 
argue,  since  they  both  believed  that  the  return 
was  almost  immediate;  and  as  these  2,000 
years  of  waiting  has  demonstrated  their  error 
in  the  time  of  the  Return,  it  is  reasonable  to 
believe  that  they  were  mistaken  also  as  to  the 
Return  itself. 

In  an  earlier  page  of  this  treatise  the  ques¬ 
tion  of  their  personal  belief  concerning  the 
time  of  the  Return  was  touched  upon  and  we 
saw  that  far  too  much  has  been  conceded  al¬ 
ready  on  this  point.  It  is  true  that  Christ 
made  the  surprising  confession  that  during  his 
earthly  career  he  was  so  emptied  of  his  former 
glory  and  authority  and  wisdom  that  “no  man 
knoweth  the  day  nor  the  hour  neither  the  Son 
but  the  Father  only;”  but  that  was  a  single 
utterance  and  concerned  only  the  exact  day 
and  hour  of  his  future  Advent. 

My  purpose  in  this  further  treatment  of  the 
same  phase  of  the  subject  is  to  study  more 
carefully  the  evident  facts  and  statements. 


W  ere  Jesus  and  Paul  Mistaken ?  83 

First,  I  want  to  affirm  that  if  anything  is 
known  on  so  great  and  incomprehensible  a 
subject  it  must  be  taught  purely  by  revelation, 
as  the  human  reason  could  never  devise  such  a 
program  nor  secure  such  uniform  convictions 
as  are  maintained  by  Christ  and  the  Apostles 
upon  this  transcendent  theme.  They  all  insist 
that  the  Lord  must  come  back  to  this  same 
world  that  he  left,  when  a  new  era  is  to  be 
ushered  in  and  the  real  triumph  of  Christ  is 
to  be  made  known. 

Small  minds  hitch  great  events  to  a  single 
word  or  utterance  and  permit  their  entire 
systems  of  belief  to  be  determined  by  the  dot 
of  an  “i”  or  the  cross  of  a  “t.”  This  is  a 
perilous  method  for  truth  seekers  though  a 
fortunate  one  for  creed  makers.  Any  strange 
doctrine  may  be  credited  and  sustained  by  this 
mode  of  study.  We  fear  it  as  we  fear  a  deep 
ditch  in  the  darkest  night.  The  question  as 
to  whether  I  am  to  keep  looking  for  the 
steady  increase  of  light  and  truth  until  the 


84  Twilight:  The  Sign  of  His  Coming 

whole  world  is  filled  with  its  healing  gladden¬ 
ing  rays;  or  whether  I  am  to  hasten  the  per¬ 
sonal  coming  of  Christ  by  earnest  labors  to 
fulfill  His  largest  promise  to  the  world  before 
He  sets  up  His  throne  of  Judgment,  is  not 
to  be  determined  by  one  text  or  by  two.  It 
is  rather  to  be  determined  by  the  clear  and 
oft  repeated  assertions  of  Holy  Writ. 

We  are  quite  prepared  to  concede  that  both 
Christ  and  the  Apostles  sometimes  evidently 
referred  to  death  as  the  time  when  Christ 
should  come  for  His  believing  ones;  but  this 
event  does  not  include  that  greatest  of  all 
Comings  which  is  elsewhere  described  in  such 
majestic  and  striking  language  and  figures;  an 
event  which  neither  death  nor  any  other 
known  crisis  can  adequately  fulfill.  No  one 
can  read  the  pages  of  the  New  Testament  with 
an  unprejudiced  mind  without  having  his  at¬ 
tention  repeatedly  drawn  to  one  crowning  day 
in  the  history  of  the  Kingdom  and  the  King, 
the  day  known  as  “the  day  of  the  Son  of 


W ere  Jesus  and  Paul  Mistaken  f  85 

Man.” 

When  Jesus  spoke  with  such  frequency  and 
definiteness  about  His  triumphal  Return  the 
disciples  decided  that  the  “Kingdom  of  God 
should  immediately  appear.”  To  correct  this 
misapprehension  we  are  told  in  two  great 
parables  by  our  Lord,  “that  the  Lord  delayeth 
his  coming”  and  that  much  waiting  and  watch¬ 
ing  and  large  achievement  must  be  experienced 
by  the  Church  before  the  expectant  hour  of 
triumph  is  upon  us.  (Matt.  25:19,  Luke 
19:11).  It  is  clearly  evident  that  Jesus  did 
not  anticipate  an  immediate  return  after  his 
resurrection. 

The  Apostle  to  the  Gentiles  safe-guards 
himself  and  his  followers  by  the  same  careful 
correction  of  the  misleading  views  which  his 
earlier  writing  and  preaching  had  created.  In 
his  second  Epistle  to  the  Thessalonians  he  is 
very  definite  in  his  expressions  of  a  conviction 
that  much  more  of  God’s  program  and 
prophecy  and  promise  for  the  world  must 


86  Twilight:  The  Sign  of  His  Coming 

be  wrought  out  before  the  glorious  day  of 
our  Lord’s  Return.  (II  Thess.  2:1-17).  The 
statements  bearing  upon  this  theme  by  Peter, 
by  James,  by  John,  must  all  receive  the  same 
generous  treatment  that  we  insist  must  be 
accorded  the  words  of  Jesus  and  of  the 
Apostle  Paul,  if  they  are  fairly  interpreted 
and  stand  before  us  in  an  unprejudiced  argu¬ 
ment. 

We  contend  therefore  most  earnestly 
against  the  flippant  remark,  now  so  common, 
that  it  is  evident  that  both  Jesus  and  Paul 
anticipated  and  taught  an  almost  immediate 
return  of  our  Lord  after  His  Death,  Resur¬ 
rection,  and  Ascension.  Rather  did  they  teach 
simply  that  since  no  man  knoweth  the  day 
nor  the  hour  of  this  crowning  event,  the  Bride 
must  be  ever  ready  for  the  coming  of  her 
Lord. 

Glorious  and  wondrous  day  when  the 
absent  and  loving  Bridegroom  shall  descend 
the  Heavens  to  meet  His  waiting  Church  and 


Were  Jesus  and  Paul  Mistaken f  87 

take  her  home  to  the  Father’s  House.  But 
the  constant  emphasis  in  both  the  Parables  of 
Jesus  and  Letters  of  the  Apostles  is  upon 
the  inspiring  truth  that  Christ  will  not  come 
till  his  Church  has  finished  her  glorious  task 
in  carrying  the  Gospel  to  the  ends  of  the 
Earth,  while  she  herself — the  true  Bride — 
is  adorned  in  cleansed  robes,  beautified  by 
priceless  gems  ready  for  the  great  presenta¬ 
tion  at  the  Father’s  Throne.  “Awake,  awake, 
put  on  thy  strength,  oh  Zion,  put  on  thy 
beautiful  garments!”  The  midnight  call  is 
past,  “Behold  the  bridegroom  cometh”  and 
the  first  gleams  of  a  distant  rising  warn  us 
that  Twilight,  the  sign  of  his  appearing  is  at 
hand. 


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